If your lawn is staring to look a little “grey” like mine then it is ready for some water. I am sure you remember that the top tip for watering lawns is to water deeply once or twice a week. If you’re worried about how much to put on, place a cup in the way of the sprinkler and fill this to about 3-4 cms.

This should have an almost immediate effect of greening up your lawn – especially as we will have recently fertilised it. Lawns that are in full sun are looking particularly parched at the moment.

The seed needs to be kept damp to ensure good germination rates. The best way of doing this is little and often, so do please use a fine spray on your watering can or hose every other day or every day if really warm. Avoid flooding the area or washing the seeds into ‘clumps’ The soil temperature is gradually rising and the gentle watering will make sure that the seed is in the best condition to take full advantage of the late spring growing conditions.

If you can’t see any little green shoots very soon, don’t panic! Seeding takes about 2 to 3 weeks to germinate depending on the position (areas in full sun will of course be getting more warmth than shady areas).

This is the bossy bit: Please try to stay off the seeding as much as possible for 3 weeks, then allow only light traffic for a further 2 weeks.

As to mowing, wait until the seed has germinated if you possibly can. If you feel you have to mow as the grass is very long, mow on the very highest setting and test an area, as you risk sucking up all the seed when you go over it with the mower. If the seeding has been done in patches, try to avoid these altogether.

For london lawn care this is a very busy time of year. Not only do we have lots of remedial work to do on lawns damaged over the winter, but we also start the process of setting the lawns up for the rest of the year.